After 42 Yards Rushing, What Happened to Miami's Running Game?
For the second game in a row, the Miami Hurricanes simply could not run the football with any consistency.
After 60 rushing yards against Middle Tennessee State, the 27-24 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels saw the Hurricanes run for even fewer yards.
24 carries, 42 yards, 1.8 yards per carry, and a long run of nine yards. Running back Jaylan Knighton lost a fumble, which did not help matters either.
That said, the lack of continuity along the offensive line probably caused issues. As noted in Saturday night’s unfortunate injury report, the offensive line was far from full health.
Fair enough, the offensive line injuries were a part of the problem for the rushing attack. If a Miami fan is still unsettled about 42 rushing yards, it would be hard to argue with them, however.
To place the above statistics into account, consider the prior four games for North Carolina, which came into Saturday’s action with the No. 113 rushing defense by allowing 193 yards per game.
Appalachian State: 43 carries, 288 yards, 6.7 average, and three touchdowns.
Georgia State: 54 carries, 235 yards, 4.4 average, and no touchdowns.
Notre Dame: 51 carries, 287 yards, 5.6 average, and three touchdowns.
Virginia Tech: 35 carries, 99 yards, 2.8 average, and one touchdown.
Obviously, the Tar Heels were gashed during those first three contests and were consistently knocked off the football. That fourth game was a good effort by North Carolina, at least at first glance. Then again, a closer inspection sees that Virginia Tech’s rushing attack was porous.
The Hokies, coming into Week 6, were ranked No. 113 in rushing offense by averaging 109.4 yards per contest. That leads us back to the original concern.
If the rushing attack was even mediocre against the Tar Heels, the Canes likely would have come out on top. That point was bolstered by how quarterback Tyler Van Dyke absolutely went off after head coach Mario Cristobal gave him a public endorsement that he was his quarterback. The redshirt sophomore went 42 of 57, 73.7%, 496 yards, 8.7 per attempt, three touchdowns and one interception.
Imagine what just a little bit of help from the rushing attack would have done to help the offense in what ended up being a three-point loss. Van Dyke did not even have a true play-action game to work from because of the lack of a running game.
Even one long run by Knighton or Henry Parrish, Jr. could have done the job to make UNC respect Miami’s running game. Knighton and Parrish would have likely been able to accomplish that task with more room to run.
With an offensive line that’s battling injuries, the Canes need to find quick solutions. The next chance to improve comes during a road contest against a 2-4 Virginia Tech Hokies team that just gave up 326 yards on the ground to Pittsburgh. The Panthers averaged 7.6 yards per tote during their 45-29 victory over the Hokies.
That’s par for the course for Virginia Tech. Over their past three games against West Virginia, North Carolina and Pittsburgh, the Hokies have allowed 704 yards rushing while it allowed 5.8 yards per carry and nine touchdowns; six rushing touchdowns came from Pittsburgh alone.
Injuries or not, the Hurricanes must be able to run the football on the Hokies. If not, Miami will continue to continue to struggle to win games.
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